


Yellow Twilight

by Lolsnake9



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Character(s), Blood and Gore, Child Murder, Gen, Horror, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Murder, Murder Mystery, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, POV Nonhuman, POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:49:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23392021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lolsnake9/pseuds/Lolsnake9
Summary: When a seemingly small and peaceful village is suddenly thrown into shock and terror with the brutal murder of a little girl, what will happen as tension rises in the village when everyone suddenly feels unsafe? Does the true threat lurk in the inside instead of coming from the outside? And who can you even trust when your own childhood friend has been acting weird lately?A story about fear, featuring our favorite space fearbug with original characters and setting.
Kudos: 1





	Yellow Twilight

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to take a break from gay shit to write a story about Parallax. In all honesty, this is a story I've always wanted to write because I'm a fan of horror (not FAN fan but still likes reading it from time to time), especially the psychological and eldritch kind. 
> 
> Also never even expected this to hit 13k tbh, phew
> 
> Enjoy

At one point in time far long ago in the past, in a far-off galaxy light-years away from our own, a lone planet that used to be shall be the place where this horrible little tale took place. A tale that is merely one among many that serves as the testament to the glory of fear.

Among the tall grass-blades gleaming with the yellow moonlight shining through the night, a young sped through with the agility of a hawk, helped by his thin, long frame as befitting the rest of the Krivanians – Larta had been his name.

He had been up all night looking for game – a duty bestowed upon him as a young male of the Rh-vola tribe. With his two huge, all-black eyes he searched for his prey – up until he caught a glimpse of movement among the grass.

“There you are,”

He reached to his back and with a swift, sleek movement took out his crossbow to fire at his target hidden among the grass, a little squeal confirming his success of a kill. A victorious grin broke across his face as he picked the dead hare up.

“Finally. Huff, can’t believe it took me this long. If Lania finds out she’ll make fun of me again…oh well.”

Larta looked up to see the moon, the sheen yellow-gold light shining so brilliantly among the dark fog. The Rh-vola had always held a reverence to the moon, to the way it had provided guidance to the hunters with the soft gleam of its light during the night.

And yet, Larta had been unable to shake the feeling of _uneasiness_ as he looked upon the face of the moon, as its light washed over him. For reasons he couldn’t fully explain, the light that had normally provided a sense of comfort now gave him an odd sense of _dread_ , as if it was trying to tell him that something bad was about to happen soon if he were to stay any longer in the wilderness.

“Well, I think I’ll better get back now.”

As the young hunter prepared to return, his ears caught a sudden, zipping noise of something moving past him.

Larta was caught off-guard. Years of being a hunter had taught him how to infer the size of wild animals just from the sounds they made alone. And from the loud noise the _thing_ made as it zoomed through the bushes Larta could infer that it was certainly not of a normal small prey animal like hares, winged-cats, deer, or even large predators like striped lions or horn-beaked hawks.

It was something much, _much_ _bigger_.

Panic instantly bubbled inside Larta’s chest. Striped lions, the biggest of the predatory beasts found among the wild, had been some of the tribe’s biggest grievances as they had made plenty of attacks on their village. Now that there’s something even bigger than them suddenly appearing out in the wild it would only spell disaster if not reported to the elders soon enough.

His instinct and logic had all told him, _warned_ him to ignore the source of the sound and immediately return. But curiosity, or perhaps a little willful stupidity took better of him, and so Larta decided to follow along where the creature had taken off not too long ago. The gentle whistling sound of the wind moving through the tall grass-blades had provided him the guidance of the creature’s trail, which he followed along tirelessly until it led him to an entrance of a cave.

“What in the name of Tarh’ala…?”

Larta had never visited the cave and its surrounding area before. He took a peek inside and saw nothing but a seemingly all-engulfing darkness inside as far as eyes could see, even with the help of the torch-flower he brought with him. As more and more time passed on the more Larta thought that this had been a _terrible_ idea to start with, but…how could he report this creature as a ‘big threat’ if he didn’t know what it even looked like?

Even with his breath becoming stuck and sitting increasingly heavier in his chest as more _fear_ filled his entire being, Larta gathered all the _willpower_ he had inside him to step in and make his journey. As was previously said before, the faint light the torch-flower had had provided little help to Larta in navigating his way through the cave, which turned out to be surprisingly spacious inside. Sometimes rocks fell off the cave’s ceiling which had almost endangered Larta several times. Nevertheless, Larta pushed on, barely paying mind to any other matter besides _moving forward_.

It wasn’t long before Larta heard a loud, inhuman growl coming from upfront, upon which he hastened his pace. He ran at such speed that he hadn’t minded his surroundings to the point of tripping, though he quickly picked himself back on his feet to catch up to the source of the noise.

As he went on, however, Larta began to feel the air around him slowly becoming more ominous, more _dreadful_. As if he was being held by the throat and slowly strangled while having little, sharp _things_ digging into his skin as he took another step inside the cave and closer to the end of the cave and, hopefully, the mysterious creature he had been chasing this entire time.

But he knew he couldn’t stop. Especially not now. He had been raised his entire life to be a formidable fearless warrior faithfully serving his tribe, and showing cowardice at the face of such adversities could only bring potential disasters. So ignoring all the scared little voices in his head telling him to _stop_ and _turn back_ Larta kept on stepping forward.

After going on for quite a while, Larta was momentarily taken aback when he caught a glimpse of a yellow light shining at quite the far end of the tunnel. He took small, careful steps as he approached it, up until he finally came face-to-face with the mysterious creature.

The yellow-clad insectoid abomination stood tall above Larta, even when it had to be hunched over to barely fit inside the cave. The eyes of the monster were fixated entirely on the terrified Rh-vola hunter, who was still trying to process the _thing_ that stood before him.

“Wh…what the?! What on the sacred land?!”

The skull-like visage of the creature soon twisted into a toothy grin, revealing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth that were _at least_ the size of a typical Krivanian young each. Larta still stood frozen and trembling in his place, barely having the time to react when the monster opened its mouth.

There was a blinding flash of yellow light seemingly consuming Larta whole and burning through his skin and flesh. Afterwards there was a most agonizing feeling not unlike being forcibly held down and drowned as dread filled his entire being. All his darkest, deepest fears and insecurities laid out in front of him, the feeling of something _wrong_ and _uninvited_ burrowing into every part of his body and soul, like knives cutting his up his body to bare his internal organs.

Larta thrashed about, _struggling_ to free himself of the monster’s strangling hold on him. He felt himself slowly losing and losing to the yellow wash of oblivion, felt the monster strengthen the hold on his mind and soul as its mocking whispers continue to taunt him about his village, his tribe, and his Lania.

He fought and fought, continued to do so with every single bit of willpower he might have had…until he stopped.

An odd serenity washed over him, replacing the panicked anguish. No more struggling. No more fighting. No more hiding.

At the end of the short-lived confrontation silence filled through the cave as the young Krivanian stood motionlessly. After several seconds his eyes opened to reveal the eerie yellow glow of once-black eyes, a sharp, twisted smile slowly expanding across his face.

“Ahh…now this isn’t so bad. Now…”

In the next second almost the entirety of the cave was blown off by a large burst of yellow energy. Larta – or what was left of him – stepped out of the fallen rubble and dust into the tall grasses in the wilderness. His yellow orbs shone brightly in the darkness, almost matching the yellow moonlight shining on the grasses as he walked through, eventually reaching the village outskirts, flashing his usual toothy grin as he did so.

“Hmm….well, then….how do you suppose we pay this nice little village a visit?”

* * *

The dawn came, and so a new day came for the humble village of the Rh-vola.

The center bell was rung four times to signify the arrival of the new day, and so the residents rose to begin their regular daily activities.

Among them was Lania, who had made it her habit to walk through the village, greeting the residents and offering help however she could.

“Good morning, Madam Karoca!” she said as she waved towards an older lady carrying two baskets of fruit.

“Good morning, Miss Lania!”

“Those baskets look heavy for you. Let me help!” Lania said as she proceeded to carry a basket on her back - though she nearly fell over at first – carrying it all the way to the old lady’s house.

“Ah, thank you so much! It’s always a joy to have you help around here!” Madam Karoca thanked Lania, holding the young lady’s hands together.

“No need to mention it! It’s my duty, after all!” Lania replied with a chuckle.

“Miss Lania! Can we get some help around here?” two men ,who were building a hut, called out to her.

“Yeah! Hold on!”

After several hours of construction….

“Phew! I think that’s all, right?”

“Yes, oh, uhm, thanks a lot Miss Lania!” the two men repeatedly bowed at her, to which she replied with a smile and a wave.

“Anytime!”

Lania turned around, only to be a confronted by a council guardsman, musclebound warriors who stood almost two times a regular Krivanian’s height.

“Greetings, Lady Lania! Already working hard?” he said with a booming voice.

“Ilsvor! Of course! I mean, it’s never too early to help people, right?”

Ilsvor smiled. “That’s splendid! No wonder every single resident here looks up to you.”

“Oh, you’re too kind.”

“Well, I need to report to the Council now. If you would excuse me.” he said as he bowed before leaving.

“Okay! Now, where should I-“

“Hey, Lania!”

Lania turned back to the source of the call, and saw Larta waving at her with a smile on his face.

“Oh, Larta! There you are! So how was the hunt last night?” she exclaimed as she ran up to him.

“Pretty good. I returned with three hares and two deer.”

Lania’s eyes widened. “Wow! That’s impressive! When did you suddenly get so good?”

Larta replied with a hearty chuckle. “Well…maybe because I decided to use more….effective methods, you can say.”

“Effective, huh? Well then you gotta teach me because I still remember when you struggled to get even just *one* hare. And that was only two days ago!” she affectionately snided at him. Larta only loudly laughed in response, which she followed along for several seconds before she stopped.

She had always loved it whenever Larta laughed, and yet for some reason, this time, she had felt slightly unnerved at him. Felt slightly uncomfortable at his air. She swallowed a gulp and put up an awkward smile.

“W-well, anyways….I’m about to go out for a hunt now. Care to join me?” she said.

“Me? Oh, not really, I have…some other businesses to attend to. So maybe next time.”

Lania lightly pouted. “Eh, that’s a shame. Oh well, I’m off. Grace of Tarh’ala with you!” she said before she took off.

“Grace of Tarh’ala with you too.”

* * *

Out in the on the outskirts of the village Lania stood among the tall grasses, fully drawing her bow. She stood still fully focusing both her eyes and ears on the grasses as to not miss any possible hints of movement or sound.

After much waiting there was finally something moving among the grass, upon which Lania instantly released her bow. A small, high-pitched whine and later a thud were heard as the dead prey dropped to the ground. Lania walked over to her kill, a deer with its throat pierced with the arrow. A small, satisfied smile appeared on her face.

“I suppose this is enough.”

She put up the deer on her shoulders and set off back to the village. As she drew nearer, however, she began to hear a rather loud commotion going on. She hastened her pace and arrived at her village to see a large crowd of people gathering at the western forest outside of the village.

She immediately ran up to the crowd. She saw all of the other people either looking confused, sad, horrified, or angry. It seemed like they were gathering around something.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked as she tried to go into the front to see what everyone was looking at. Her eyes shot open and shock and terror immediately filled her at what she saw.

A horribly mangled, disemboweled corpse of one of the young girls from their tribe was laid out under a large tree, covered in her blood. Her entrails were spread out over her bisected body, with other large claw marks that had went brutally deep. The corpse looked rather fresh, looking like she had been dead for less than a couple of hours.

In the front most of the crowd was her father, kneeling as he loudly sobbed and wailed in front of the corpse of his daughter.

“No….how could this be?! My poor little Marvia! What could have possibly done this to you?!”

Lania herself had to try to prevent herself from throwing up at such a horrific sight.

“What’s this all about?” Lania suddenly heard Larta coming up from the back, startling her a bit.

“L-larta! Where have you been?!”

Larta shrugged. “Eh, just came back from the forest. What is- oh.” he said, ending with a slight gasp.

“It’s- it’s Marvia. One of our people. She was- she was- she was only eight years old, Larta.” Lania explained, slightly shaking as tears unknowingly came from her eyes.

“Marvia….” Larta said flatly.

“This is…this is the first time someone from our village had been killed in almost a hundred years, Larta.” Lania said again, trying to hold back her tears.

“Is that so….”

Lania felt a shot of anger inside her at Larta for almost expressing no concern. “Larta…how can you be acting so casually?! Someone from our village was killed in such a horrific manner, and yet you-“

“Okay, what is all the commotion here?”

The crowd suddenly went silent at the loud, commanding voice, with the exception of Marvia’s grieving father Jarlo. They parted to let the Elder Chief of the village and the Rh-vola tribe, Larkus, with his two guardsmen, through.

“F-father!” Laina exclaimed, though her father Larkus paid her no heed and kept on walking towards Jarlo, who was burying his teary face in his hands.

“I-it’s my daughter, Elder Chief. She was- she went out to pick berries out of the trees, as- as she usually does- _did_. But-but then she didn’t come back for a long time, and I- and I- I found her like this.”

Larkus kneeled down to get a closer look at the corpse, shock and grief painting his face.

“By the grace of Tarh’ala….”

“She didn’t deserve this. She was such a sweet, nice little girl and she DIDN’T DESERVE THIS!” Jarlo screamed at the top of his lungs, flailing about in rage as the guardsmen tried to restrain him.

“Mister Jarlo, calm down-“

“WHY?! WHY MUST THIS HAPPEN TO HER?! I swear, I swear I’ll found whoever- _whatever_ had killed her and I’ll make them pay twice as much! I SWEAR!”

“MR. JARLO!” Larkus ordered loudly, causing the rest of the crowd to slightly flinch. After a while, Jarlo finally calmed down, though still crying.

Larkus put an understanding hand on the grieving man’s shoulder.

“Mr. Jarlo….I am deeply sorry that this has happened to your daughter. No tragedy of this kind has ever happened in our village in years, no, _decades_. We will find out what has killed her and make sure this will never happen again.”

“Sniff….yes….”

Larkus lightly smiled. “Now, we are about to have a council meeting. All the young warriors are required to come, and also you, Mr. Jarlo. The rest of you are to stay in your homes until further notice.” he then announced to the rest of the crowd, which quickly disbanded.

Larkus then turned to face Lania. “You, come with us.”

“Ah? Oh, yes, of course, father.”

As she prepared to leave, however, she heard Larta mutter under his breath, “Marvia…..”

“Eh?”

“Marvia….she was a nice girl.”

“Oh….you know her?” Lania asked, slightly tilting her head in confusion.

Larta grinned. “Oh, of course I do. I mean, we _are_ such a _close_ , _tightly-knit_ community….right?” he trailed off with a light chuckle which caused Lania to look at him with greater concern.

“Met her when I was out walking in the forest. She was picking berries from the dwarf-trees. I had offered her to pick up the fruits from the taller trees which she couldn’t reach, and she had such a large smile on her face. She really was such a happy, lovely girl. It really is too bad that she died too soon….”

Lania just stared at Larta in silence. “Uhm…okay, Larta you…are kind of creeping me out right now.”

“Am I now?” he replied with a little giggle, and there was a strange _glow_ in his eyes that Lania didn’t fully trust. Nevertheless, she tried to shake off all the bad feelings inside her.

“Well, uhm, let’s just go to the council meeting. Father expected us to be there as soon as possible.”

* * *

Inside the council hut located at the northern part of the village was when the council meeting took place, every day when the sun hovered right above the council hut’s construction beam. The Elders were all seated in a circle, with the young hunters seated behind them. Jarlo, in particular, sat on the right side of the Chief Elder himself.

After much fussing about between the Elders and the young hunters, the audience suddenly went silent until Larkus, the Chief Elder, spoke up first.

“All my fellow wise Elders…so we all know what we are going to discuss today. The corpse of Mr. Jarlo’s daughter Marvia was found in such a horrible condition today earlier. She had been killed in such a brutal manner, the kind that this village has never seen. In fact, this is the first time we have ever had a murder happen in this village in such a long time.”

The audience soon talked amongst themselves again, until Larkus ordered them to be silent.

“This is obviously such a horrible, unexpected tragedy, especially since how no one has ever died in this manner ever since the foundation of this village about a hundred years ago. We have to make sure that this kind of incident never happens again.”

Larkus then turned towards the much-distressed Jarlo. “Now, Mr. Jarlo, if you would kindly explain, what exactly was your daughter doing before she was found dead?”

“Well, I…” Jarlo took a deep breath. “She….she came out to pick berries, like she always did, you know. She went to the same place she has always been to. To the small forest in the east side to the village. And she, and she went. I hadn’t accompanied her because she always insisted on doing it all by herself, and, and…and after two hours or so she would always come back. Always. There was…there was nothing strange going on when she went out this morning. No sign that the moment she set out to the forest, that, that….”

Jarlo started sobbing. “That, it would be…the…last I would….” he said sniffling in between words, eventually bursting into tears and wailed uncontrollably.

“Mr. Jarlo, calm down-“ Larkus tried to comfort him, but to no avail.

“Oh, Marvia! I’m so sorry, Marvia, I’m so sorry! Forgive me for my foolishness, for not being able to protect you!”

“Well, I think your explanation is already sufficient, Mr. Jarlo. Guards!”

Two big, burly-looking guardsmen appeared. Larkus then ordered, “Escort Mr. Jarlo back to his residence. He needs his much-needed time to grieve.”

“Yes, sir.” they said in unison as they held Jarlo by his hands and escorted him out of the council hut, the man still sobbing on his way out.

Lania watched the whole spectacle before her eyes with concern and grief on her face. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

“Now, we already have an explanation from the victim’s father himself. The victim was last found alive when she went out to pick berries at the eastern forests, something she had always been doing. She would always come back after two hours, which she didn’t do this morning and the victim’s father had been unable to find her until her corpse was found on the western forests. Now…any idea as to _what_ could have possibly killed her?”

Again the audience burst into an intense discussion until one of the Elders, Trovak, spoke out, “The striped lions are the most obvious candidate here.” he said, to which the other Elders responded with incredulity and confusion.

“Really? Those striped lions can only be found outside the boundaries of the inner forests. There’s no way they would wander inside. They’ve been _scared_ to do so for years.” argued the other Elder, Ilyar.

“That may be so, but what other creatures could have torn apart the way they did? The way she got disemboweled, and the claw marks, they all point straight towards the striped lions!” snapped Trovak.

“You may have a point there, Elder Trovak. But that still doesn’t change the fact that it was simply improbable for those striped lions to get _that_ close in our village’s vicinity.” replied another Elder Gortin. From the last of the Elders, Ulara, an irritated snort was heard.

“She was a child, after all! What’s not to say she just got _too_ curious this morning and went outside the boundaries, allowing herself to be torn apart by those monstrous beasts?” scoffed Ulara.

Soon the discussion grew into a heated debate among the Elders, and after quite a while Larkus tapped his staff hard to the floor, causing the Elders to immediately calm down.

“Now…perhaps other opinions?” he calmly said. Lania quickly raised her hand.

“Yes, what is it?”

“We are here trying to guess who the killer was, and yet despite our endless speculation at the end of the day they are ultimately baseless accusations, based on nothing but theories. I suggest that we examine Marvia’s body. After all, by examining her wounds we can perhaps find clues like bone or teeth shards which can point us towards the killer.”

“That’s an excellent point. Anything else?”

This time Larta, who had been awfully quiet and complacent this entire time suddenly raised his hand.

“Yes, you?”

“I do firmly believe it had been those striped lions.” Larta calmly replied, an answer which had lightly shocked Lania.

“Bah! And what grounds do you claim that on?” Ilyar scoffed.

“It really does seem like those beasts have become rather aggressive lately. I’ve observed it myself during my hunts. Their numbers have increased, and it seemed that they have become more daring going into the inner forests near the village.”

And again, the crowd was thrown into a commotion.

“No way…”

Larkus glared sharply at Larta. “Young Larta…are you absolutely sure in your statement?”

“I stated only the facts, Chief Elder.”

Larkus took a deep breath. “So….does everyone agree? Or do any of you have any more to add?”

The Elders only looked at each other in silence, before Ulara loudly spoke out, “Well then it’s obvious what we should do! We have to go out there and kill those striped lions before they get even more aggressive than before!”

Such statement sent shock towards the rest of the Elders.

“Kill all striped lions? Elder Ulara, what madness do you speak?!” asked Gortin.

Before Ulara could answer, Trovak butted in, “No, that is not the way! If this is the case then what we have to do is to fortify our village even heavier than before!”

“If we do that then the striped lions will only find other ways to break through and invade us!” replied Ulara, raising his voice higher.

“And you think trying to send out all of our hunters and soldiers to kill those ferocious beasts will succeed? You already have an idea how big and strong they are! It would already be considered a miracle if three hunters could take down even _one_ fully-grown striped lions, and you suggest we try to take on _all_ of them?!”

Lania watched the entire discourse unfold with distress. She turned to Larta sitting next to her and saw him slightly smirking watching the entire thing.

“Larta! What are you even smiling about?!” she loudly whispered.

“Hm? What?”

“This is a _horrible_ matter, Larta. You have to take it seriously!”

“Oh, but I _am_ Lania. You can’t even see that?” he said, before returning to watch the spectacle with weird amusement, much to Lania’s confusion.

“Elder Trovak, I have certainly _never_ remembered you being such a soft-hearted _coward_. Listen all of you,” Ulara said as he stood up, almost startling the rest of the council.

He continued, “My fellow Elders and young hunters of Rh-Vola, all blessed by the grace of Tarh’ala Himself, all of whom I respect deeply from the bottom of my heart. All of you have contributed such great part in running this village for the last hundred years. But clearly all this time of peace and safety has caused all of us to become lax. We think to ourselves, that as long as we keep ourselves all huddled up inside our fortified village then we will always be safe. All of those dangerous beasts will simply stay away. But we see now that that is not the case anymore. One of us has had her life cut short by those beasts. So we have to strike back. We have to make sure that _none_ of these tragedies can _ever_ happen again.”

The rest of the council only watched the whole speech with awe.

Ulara said again, “Well? I suppose my point has been made clear here? And now-“

“But wait a second!”

Rolling his eyes, Ulara exasperatedly turned to the source of the voice, “Yes, Elder Gortin? What is it now?”

“Nobody has mentioned how her corpse was found on the _western_ forests! She first went out to the eastern forests, which means that her corpse was dragged all the way from the east to the west, which was about 5-yoli* at least! No normal beasts, striped lions or not, were able to do that!”

The council soon broke into commotion again. Ulara sat down, and said to Gortin, “You are saying….the killer was something even _bigger_ and _stronger_ than the striped lions out there? And they are wandering so closely around our village?”

“Look, I’m not denying that maybe the striped lions were responsible. That is certainly a possibility, especially after what Larta said. But after thinking about all the evidence here I’m thinking that this is perhaps not a work by a striped lion, or any other creatures we are familiar with either.”

Ulara pondered upon the thought, before silently nodding. “That makes sense. But what could possibly be even _more_ dangerous than striped lions out there?”

“Or, maybe….”

The council turned to Ilyar.

“What?”

“Or maybe….what if…the killer was actually one of us?” Ilyar slowly muttered, which soon caused an uproar within the council. And this time, even Larkus stepped in as well.

“ELDER ILYAR! HOW DO YOU EVEN DARE TO SUGGEST A THING?!” he said with his booming voice, which soon silenced the rest of the council as well.

“F-forgive me Chief Elder! But I mean, this is something that no one has ever suggested before, and yet-“

“It hasn’t been suggested because it is simply such an unthinkable madness to suggest about! Not even Elder Ulara’s madness is on the same level!” said Trovak.

Larkus said again, “We the people of Rh-vola have long been such a united, tightly-knit community. Ever since our ancestor came to flock together and built this village to protect themselves from outside threats we have been long bonded to each other to the point where we consider ourselves as more than a village, or a tribe, but rather a _family_. We do and share everything together. We strive to help each other in harmony and chaos. To suggest that one of us would dare to have such ill thoughts to the point of murder, let alone murder of a _child_ , would almost be a betrayal to the idea of Rh-vola itself.”

As the rest of the council continued to look at him with judgment, Ilyar bowed down. “I understand. I know what I have said was simply illogical and irrational. Please forgive me.”

Larkus huffed in relief. “Good. Now, after today’s council meeting, I have decided upon two decisions. One, we are to perform an autopsy on Marvia’s body to find clues regarding the killer. Two, we are to fortify our village’s defenses and send out more hunters to guard the village against any possible threats. That is all. Grace of Tarh’ala with you.”

And so the council was dismissed for the day. As Lania was preparing herself to go while everyone else had already exited the hut, she was approached by Larkus.

“Lania. Come with me for a bit.”

“Oh. What is it, father?” she said as she followed him to the back of the hut. Larkus took a deep breath.

“Lania… _my daughter_ , listen….you surely are aware about the weight of the problem we’re facing here. We are up against a threat we don’t know about….which might possibly be our greatest threat yet. All my years of being the Chief Elder has taught me just how heavy the responsibility of keeping this village safe and protect everyone in it is. And you…not only are you willing to step up to carry that responsibility as well, you have decided to dedicate your life to it and make some decisions that even _I_ probably will be too afraid of. I know we’re not as close as you thought a father and daughter would be, but know that I do still love you. I am deeply proud of you and would trade you for nothing in this world. Do you understand that?” he said, putting his hand on Lania’s shoulder and looking deeply into her eyes with a fond look, which Lania returned.

“I understand, father. I love you too.” she said as she went to hug her father.

“Good. You may go now.” Larkus said, letting her go.

“Yes. Excuse me.”

* * *

When Lania got out of the hut, the sky had already gone dark, the yellow moon providing the benevolent guiding light amongst the all-consuming darkness.

But now, even the normally warm glow of the moonlight had seemed eerie and unwelcoming to Lania, for reasons she couldn’t fully explain.

This night, she decided to go visit a certain man. A man whom she was certain would certainly need this visit.

She went to a rather small hut located on the pretty far-east side of the village, the hare blood smeared on the rooftop and two torches lit on the entrance had signified mourning.

Carefully, she knocked the door.

“Mr. Jarlo? Are you there?”

There was no response. Lania pressed her ear to the door and could hear faint sounds of crying from inside. She decided to stand outside and wait.

“Y-yes….wait a second.” a voice from inside finally said.

The door was opened to reveal Jarlo, his cheeks still visibly wet from tears.

“O-oh! It’s you, Miss Lania. W-what business do you may have?”

“Hi, Mr. Jarlo. Do you mind if I come in?”

“O-oh, of course I don’t. I mean, why would I?”

Lania stepped inside, followed by Jarlo closing the door. There was nothing too terribly fancy to be found inside the hut, filled with only living essentials like other residents of Rh-vola. The most striking thing to be found, however, was a large portrait of Marvia placed on some sort of an altar, with two bowls filled with berries and flowers placed in front of it.

“So….how are you doing, Mr. Jarlo?” Lania asked as she sat down on one of the tiny chairs that were lying around.

“Oh…I….well…probably…” Jarlo was still sniffling as he struggled to answer.

“Hey, Mr. Jarlo, it’s okay. I know….you are probably having a hard time now, understandably. I’m just visiting to see if you would like to talk to someone about it, or-“

“Oh, you are simply _way_ too kind for us, Miss Lania. But well, you’re probably right about that one thing…I mean….I simply just can’t believe it, you know?”

It didn’t take too long before Jarlo started loudly sobbing again.

“Why….why must it be her? She was only eight years old. She had such a bright future ahead of her. She was….she was the only I had since her mother’s death, and I loved her with my entire being. If those striped lions – or _whatever_ had gotten to her – wanted to kill someone they should have just gone to me instead. It’s all…it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault for not protecting her like an actual father would. I thought I had made the right decision….but….”

“H-hey, hey, Mr. Jarlo….it’s not your fault.”

Lania tried to reach out to Jarlo, who then slapped her hand away in anger.

“But it is! I should have been there with her at all times, to protect her from any harm and _kill_ any foul thing who even dared to look at her way. Striped lions or not, I will make their punishment so slow and painful so that they understand the price of threatening my daughter and- _oh_.”

When Jarlo realized what he had said and saw the concerned look Lania had, he covered his face with his hands.

“Oh….oh I am sorry, I am so sorry, I-“

“Hey, it’s okay. You-“

“I….I really don’t know what had gotten to me. I….I had never thought of any of those things before. And yet…”

“Mr. Jarlo. I told you, it’s alright. Especially after losing your daughter, it’s understandable that you would say some…unexpected things.”

“Ah, I know about that. But…it’s still so surprising even for me. But, well….if I make one wish, Miss Lania?”

“Yes?”

Jarlo leaned closer towards her. “Please, I inquire you, from the bottom of my heart…please, find out the killer. Find out the one who had murdered my daughter and please…make sure they have _justice_. Make sure that _Marvia_ has justice. _Please_.”

Lania held Jarlo’s hands tightly. “Understood, Mr. Jarlo.”

Jarlo nodded and smiled through his tears. “Thank you. Thank you so very much.”

* * *

After another few hours of conversation with Jarlo, Lania decided that it was enough for the night. She said goodbye to Jarlo and went outside, only to be startled by Larta waiting outside the hut, leaning against one of the hut’s wooden poles while crossing his arms.

“Larta! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’ve heard that you decided to give the grieving Mr. Jarlo a visit. How was he?”

“Well…he was quite obviously still affected. He even started to say some pretty… _violent_ things, I have to say.”

The corner of Larta’s lip slightly quirked upwards in a small smile. “Oh, I can imagine.”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not like I blamed him….I probably would have reacted the same too if I was in the same situation.”

“Would you now?” Larta said as he uncrossed his arms and slowly walked towards Lania. “You don’t even seem like much the violent type to me.”

Lania smiled sourly in response. “Well, that’s what everyone says about me anyway. But then again…grief can change people in pretty drastic ways. When someone loses the person they care about, it can drive them to do extreme things due to the _anger_ at the one who had taken said person away from them… or the _fear_ of losing more.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Forget about that, why are you here?”

Larta proceeded to shrug with a rather confused expression on his face. “Well, I probably just wanted to see you?”

“Really? I mean, I’m sorry, it’s just that….”

“What?”

Lania took a deep breath. “It’s just that….everything is just so stressful lately.”

“You’re still worrying about this whole matter, aren’t you?”

“Well, of course I am! A young girl from our village being brutally murdered and the possible rising threat from striped lions or, even worse, an _even more_ dangerous creature than them! All these years and only now we have a problem of this caliber. And our Elders can’t seem to agree on how to handle this situation, and yet…”

Lania sighed as she turned away from Larta. “By Tarh’ala’s name, I shouldn’t even be complaining like this to you. I mean…I’m the Elder Chief’s daughter. I have the responsibility of taking care of and protecting this village as much as my father does. “

“Hey.”

Lania turned around when Larta touched her shoulder.

“It’s okay to talk about it. You’ve said it yourself to Mr. Jarlo that it’s okay to talk about your feelings , no matter what they are, right?”

Lania was silent for a while before lightly smiling. “I…I guess so.” she said with a sad snort at the end.

“Ever since I was a child I have always been respected by people because of my father. I mean, it’s just expected for the Chief Elder’s daughter to be praised by everyone in the village, right? But it’s just that…”

Lania stared off to the space with sadness in her eyes. “As I grew up…I realized that that’s not what I wanted. Mainly due to the fact that I felt uncomfortable with respect that I had gained only because it was expected. Only because of my heritage. And that’s…that was the reason why I decided to become a hunter just like you, even though no other women had become one before. Luckily for me my father was quickly accepting. Other than that, I had also decided to dedicate my life towards the village and everyone in it as well. So that one day, people will br able to genuinely respect me because of what I _do_ , and not what I _am_. But even so….”

Larta tilted his head. “But even so….?”

“But even so….even now I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t really think that my motivation for helping the village is genuine either. It’s like…it’s like I have the need to serve my village like my father not because of any real urge to do so, but rather only because I feel I _have_ to. That I have this responsibility _shackled_ to me, the one I can’t even really escape just because of my status. And you, Larta…you’re the only one I can ever tell all of this to. You’ve known me perhaps more than anyone else except my father. We’ve been friends since we were children. We grew together, did everything together. You were always there for me, and while everyone else praises me for being the ‘kind and brave Lania the daughter of the Chief Elder Larkus’ I feel like you’re the only one who can see the ‘real’ me.”

“Lania…”

Lania shook her head. “I-I’m sorry, I probably already said way too much. I probably took too much of your time, and I need to-“

She let out slight gasp when Larta grabbed her wrist, preventing her from going.

“L-larta?”

“Lania. Listen to me. I know how hard your responsibility as the Chief Elder’s daughter is. Even though you said that this is a responsibility that you feel you can’t escape from…that is not the case. You _could_ always walk away from this any time you feel like it. You _could_ always just abandon everything and live life how you always wanted. But you didn’t. You decided to take this heavy responsibility yourself for the sake of everyone in this village. And while I know that this results in everyone putting such a heavy burden on you to the point that you may feel uncomfortable telling about your true feelings to…remember that I’m still here. I’m _always_ here and I will _never_ leave you Lania. _Ever_.”

Lania’s expression slowly changed from that of shock to happiness as a warm smile appeared on her face. She proceeded to tightly hug Larta.

“Larta…thank you so much. Thank you for always being there for me.”

Larta hugged her back, a wide grin with sharp teeth that glinted in the darkness slowly forming on his face, accompanied with sinister yellow glow overtaking his eyes as he did so.

“You’re welcome, Lania… _you’re welcome_ _always_.”

* * *

As the night continued for the village of Rh-vola, the usual sounds of the village residents doing their usual daily activities were replaced with the soothing sounds of gentle winds and chirps of crickets.

The people of Rh-vola had all gone to sleep in preparation for the next day, with the select few of young hunters who were doing their nightly duties…and a certain man who had been assigned the most important duty as ordered by the Chief Elder.

Inside a rather small tent located near the council tent, the corpse of poor little Marvia was laid on a wooden table as it was to be autopsied by the renowned village doctor Yarnu.

“Sigh….well, isn’t this just the worst thing I have ever laid my eyes on. I mean, not regarding _you_ , obviously kid, you obviously didn’t deserve this. But I have _never_ seen a corpse like this before, being horrifically killed and mangled to the point of not even resembling anything like a living being anymore- wait, that _is_ kind of the point. Argh. To hell with it, let’s just find out who had actually done this to you, may Tarh’ala forgive me.”

The doctor proceeded to do his work, carefully examining Marvia’s corpse from head to toe. From the deep claw marks on her thighs to stab wounds on her upper arms, from external injuries to the torn-out entrails.

“Oh Tarh’ala, this is just awful. I’ve examined wounds from striped lions before, and this is clearly from _something_ on a different level from them. But let’s look even further. Hmm….”

Yarnu put his hand on one of the scratch wounds on Marvia’s forehead, whereupon he noticed a particularly sticky, goo-like yellow substance on it.

“What is….?” he muttered, moving his hand to his eyes to examine it closer. He also noticed a particular smell coming off of it.

He examined Marvia’s internal guts to see the yellow substance covering it as well.

“Striped lions’ don’t excrete this particular kind of substance. Their blood is also blue, and while deer’s and several types of hare’s blood is yellow….no, that doesn’t make much sense. And I have never seen someone’s blood to just turn yellow like this after death. But what could it even be? Is it some kind of poison? But that doesn’t even make any sense…there’s no bone or teeth shards or anything inside her. What kind of creature could possibly even…”

Yarnu kept on talking to himself as he analyzed the strange substance and the circumstances of Marvia’s death, to the point of not noticing an uninvited visitor entering his tent.

“…but then, for that to be possible the attacker had to be- huh?” Yarnu turned his head around when he heard footsteps coming up from behind him, when he saw a figure standing in the darkness, his silhouette revealing the unwanted guest as a young hunter.

Yarnu understandably grew irritated. “Hey! I’m in a middle of an important task here, so if you- _okh_!”

Yarnu’s sentence was cut short as claws found their ways into his chest, digging in _just_ so deeper to make him vomit bright blue blood. With bloodshot eyes Yarnu looked up to see the attacker’s face still hidden in the shadows, and an unsettling smile slowly appearing in the darkness.

“Wh…what in the name of…..”

Yarnu fell to his knees after the attacker pulled the claws out of him, groaning in pain as he pressed into the wound on his chest. He looked up to see two large glowing yellow orbs, reminding oneself of two yellow moons.

“You…who are you?! Who the hell are you?!”

“Me? Oh, I have been called by quite a number of different names. Names that I have picked up over the course of several millennia I have lived in this galaxy…the most recent one being Larta. Although I would love to reveal to you my _real_ name…I don’t think there would be much point to it at this point, Doctor.” he said as he slowly walked towards Yarnu, fully revealing himself as Larta – or rather, _something_ that has taken the form of Larta.

Yarnu’s eyes widened in shock as he coughed more blood. “You…aren’t you one….of us? You are….a hunter… korf!”

“Larta” chuckled rather loudly, his laughter echoing in an unsettling reverb. “That might have been what Larta used to be. Oh, but he did fight, and I had to admit, it was quite fun while it lasted. But of course, ultimately he failed, and none of him remains. For now, there is only _me_.” he said as he walked past Yarnu, wounded and bleeding heavily on the floor.

“Tch…what…are you…”

“But do tell me one thing, Doctor. For now there must be a lot of questions going through your poor, pitiful mind, doesn’t it? After all, it’s only natural for a medic like you, who have dedicated so much of your life helping villagers with their wounds and sicknesses. And you have seen a lot of deaths, too. Remains of unfortunate lives cut short. Death from fearsome beasts, deadly illnesses, or plain natural causes…but none of them quite like _this_ one, right?” he said, pointing at Marvia’s corpse.

“Just imagine…you’re going through your day normally. Just like any other days. There’s nothing offbeat going on until you suddenly find a horribly disemboweled corpse of a little girl under a tree. The kind of death you have never seen before. The kind that has never ever happened in the history of this village, even with numerous striped lions surrounding your tiny village. You are left questioning. You are left _terrified_ , with one question running through your mind: _How is this possible? What could have possibly done this_? _Who could have possibly done this?_ And now, if you were to be presented with _the answer_ , staring _right in your face_ …what would you _do_?” he said, finishing with an even wider grin that reached to the ends of his mouth, fully revealing multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Yarnu widened his eyes and gaped in horror as he fully realized what the abomination standing so smugly in front of him had meant.

“You-! You were, you were the one who- argh!” again, he was cut short as “Larta” impaled him on his stomach this time, lifting him off the ground to meet his eyes.

“Ah, but there’s no need to worry now. I’m going to make sure to enjoy killing you as I have with the girl. And to drink in the _fear_ in your eyes as I do so.” the yellow-eyed creature growled to Yarnu as he gripped the insides of his stomach to tear his intestines out, leaving the disemboweled Yarnu to writhe in pain on the ground.

When Yarnu stopped moving, “Larta” walked out of the tent, that same vicious grin remaining on his face.

“I’m sure Rh-vola will appreciate the second _gift_ I have left for them…. _especially_ Lania.”

* * *

Rh-vola was still haunted by the lack of answer to the most recent tragic mystery when a second one appeared, bringing more worry and restlessness to the village.

An old farmer had been the one to report it when she noticed the small tent behind the council hut being torn to shreds, before actually taking a look inside and almost passing out from shock at seeing the village doctor Yarnu lying dead in his own blood with his entrails torn out of him. Soon enough the entire village, including the Chief Elder Larkus, crowded the once-tent to look at the horrific sight, no different than what they had done with Marvia the day before.

“Th-this cannot be….”

“There are _two_ of them now! And this one wasn’t even too far from the village – he was _in_ the village!”

Some of the villagers were already arguing and discussing about the incident. Lania was there too, and she kept her eyes fixated on Yarnu’s disemboweled corpse. Despite the horrible sight, the awfulness of the situation she couldn’t help but to continue looking at it.

“No way….” she mumbled under her breath.

Meanwhile, two villagers continued their argument.

“Don’t you see?! It’s obvious now, that _someone_ in this village was the killer!”

“Now on what grounds do you even say such scandalous statement?!”

“Can it be even more obvious? We found a murdered little girl under a tress despite _no one_ in this village having ever been murdered in such a manner before, and just when we were about to have answers as to who had done the deed by having the village doctor examine her body he got murdered in almost the exact manner too. And you still want to tell some inane, half-baked lie about some ‘striped lions’ being the culprit? _Someone_ had already clearly planned this, _someone_ who is certainly miles above striped lions in terms of intelligence, and if we don’t do something about it the rest of us are going to end up as gutless slabs of meat just like-“

“That’s enough!” ordered Larkus, silencing the two villagers and the rest of the crowd. He took a deep sigh as he walked towards Yarnu’s corpse.

“This death is certainly among the biggest tragedy we have ever had. Yarnu had dedicated so much of his life to help those in need, and he will be dearly missed. I know we are very distressed now, with intense worry over this new, unknown threat before us. But we must not be afraid. I promise, as the Chief Elder and protector of this village that I shall prevent more tragedies like this from happening aga-“

“But how?”

A voice came from the one of the villagers, which had filled the rest of the crowd with shock.

“What?” asked Larkus.

“How will you do that? Two people from this village are already dead in two days. How will you make sure none of us will end up as the third?”

“You dare speak out against the Chief Elder?” yelled one of the Chief Elder’s guardsman.

“I am simply asking him how he will protect us. Hell, we don’t even know what we’re up against!”

Soon, the other villagers followed. “You know, he has a point.”

“We don’t have the slightest idea who our enemy is.”

“The Chief Elder will make sure we will all be safe!”

“Yeah? And how did that work out for Yarnu?”

As the argument grew more heated, Lania stepped in. “Everyone, I beg you all to calm do-“

“How can we be calm?! This is…this is something that has never happened to this village before. Everything was just fine a day ago when suddenly now we have to worry about a manic killer among us-“

“We don’t even have proof it was one of-“

“Yarnu’s murder is enough proof already! What more do you want?! Do you think a striped lion or any other simple-minded beasts could figure out to kill the village doctor before he could reveal a crucial clue as to who the killer was?!”

Despite Lania’s efforts, the villagers still descended into a heated debate anyway. Soon enough it escalated into fisticuffs, which prompted Larkus to yell, “I! SAID! **ENOUGH**!”

The crowd finally stopped and went silent, staring at Larkus, who was heavily breathing.

“…..the rest of you go home. Solutions regarding this problem will be discussed in the council meeting and, until I put out my say, _none of you_ are to do anything without my permission. Understand?”

The crowd silently nodded.

“Alright. Off you go.”

And so the crowd dispersed and the villagers went back to their respective huts. Lania turned to Larkus as he was walking away.

“Father-“

“Save it for the council meeting, Lania.”

“I……”

Lania stopped in her tracks and sighed, closing her eyes.

“How can everything become so much worse?” she whispered.

All of a sudden, a thought came into Lania about how she hadn’t seen Larta on that day, and instantly uneasiness came onto her.

She had last seen him last night after her visit to Mr. Jarlo, the night when she had poured out all of her feelings to him before he went for a hunt. Normally, he would always return before dawn the next day, and yet this morning when she had come to visit his hut he wasn’t there.

Her best friend – and really, in all truthfulness her _only_ friend - , had been unsettling her these past few days. It wasn’t like she stopped viewing him as a friend because of it, but she could see that something about him was _off_. That even though he hadn’t stopped being the only person Lania could trust with her deepest, truest emotions she also felt that he had become something…. _different_.

Lania shook her head at such illogical, far-out speculations. She was probably just overthinking everything, probably with how things have been….but she couldn’t afford to for too long. She had things to do.

* * *

“Something bothering your mind, Miss Lania?” said Karoca, the keeper of the fruit vendor in the marketplace of Rh-vola as Lania was buying some fruits.

“Oh, it’s…it’s nothing.”

“Now why do you have to lie to me, Miss Lania? Isn’t it a bad look for the Chief Elder’s daughter to tell lies? Just tell the truth, I won’t be mad.”

“I- I see, well…I mean, it’s just….how things have been lately I have also been sort of….”

“Oh, I understand what you mean! Well, it’s understandable that anyone would be worried after those two horrible murders. I myself have been having a hard time sleeping myself out of fear of those so-called ‘mysterious killers’. But look at the positives! From the Chief Elder’s decree we had raised the village’s defenses against those fearsome predators, even raising the number of the guards! With these kind of defenses, there’s surely nothing to worry about, right?”

“Y-yeah….I guess.” Lania quietly replied, scratching at the back of her head. “Well, also…”

“Yes?”

“….I’m a bit worried about my friend recently. Larta. There’s nothing too strikingly weird about him, if I say, but recently he has been kind of… _different_. I don’t really know how to put it. But it kind of scares me.”

“Is that so,” said Karoca. “Well in that case maybe you do need to confront him directly about it.”

“I have, but even so he just sort of….dodges the question.”

“Ah, now that is the difficult part. Believe me, I’m no stranger to that either. My children often try to hide, or even lie about what was happening to them mainly because they were often worried about me if I were to find out. Not saying it is right, mind you, but your friend probably does that because he’s worried about you. But regardless, if you _were_ his friend, you _would_ care if anything would to happen to him…which you do. So it’s already enough.”

Lania smiled. “Thank you Madam Karoca.”

* * *

As she was returning home, she walked past Jarlo’s home and caught busy sounds coming from inside the hut. Curious, she knocked on the door.

“Mr. Jarlo!” she shouted into the door. Not long after the door was opened by Jarlo, who looked rather tired and sweaty.

“O-oh! Miss Lania! How are you doing?”

“I’m fine…how are you yourself?”

“Me? Well…I’ve been better than before lately, hah…”

“Is that so….that’s good to hear.”

Lania took a peek inside Jarlo’s house, and saw that it was rather messy with lots of weaponry lying around.

“May I come inside?”

“O-oh sure! Of course!” said Jarlo, letting Lania inside. She saw among other things swords and spears scattered on the hut’s floor, along with various tools to make them.

“What’s with all these weapons?”

“Oh, that….the truth is, Miss Lania, after Yarnu’s murder I have been feeling sort of…unsafe lately.” Jarlo answered somewhat nervously, wiping the swet off of his forehead.

“Huh. I understand that.”

“No, no, you don’t get it. Look, I know I may seem crazy here, but I have been sort of scared of my neighbor lately.”

Lania blinked and tilted her head in interest. “Your neighbor?”

“Yes. Mr. Urvi who lives on the left of me. He has been acting suspiciously these days.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well…for one thing I’ve been noticing him always walking out alone at night, for one thing. The first time was the night after my daughter’s death. And then the next night I decided to follow him around for a bit, and…and well, he just looked like he was up to something! Just walking around while having this weird look on his face!”

Lania slowly squinted her eyes as Jarlo’s story continued. “Uh-huh. That’s all?”

“Yeah. I know it makes me seem…paranoid, but I really can’t shake this feeling that he’s up to something fishy.”

“If that’s the case then why don’t you just report it to the Chief Elder?”

Jarlo waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “Ah, the Chief won’t busy himself around small matters like this. If anything he’ll probably just ignore it.”

“Why is that so? The Chief Elder dedicates himself to protect this village and everyone who lives in it. There’s no way he would ignore the reports of a potentially suspicious-looking person, especially considering the situation we’re in…”

“You may think so, Miss Lania, but….” Jarlo’s face turned into a much somber color. “…in all honesty, I really do think this is the time we decide to become more… _independent_ , if you say. Not to say that I have lost all faith within the Chief Elder, but…sometimes, we need to take things upon ourselves. Again, not to say I don’t appreciate the things he has done.”

Lania sighed. “Is that so. Well, in that case…I wish you luck, Mr. Jarlo.” she said with a slightly-forced smile.

“Ah yes, thank you too Miss Lania!”

Jarlo shook Lania’s hands before she left. As she was walking home she couldn’t shake her mind off of what Jarlo had said.

“Mr. Urvi…is that even true? I mean, Mr. Jarlo isn’t even the type to lie, but still…it is pretty suspicious. Not that I think he would possibly have a connection to the murders, but….hmmm…” she mumbled to herself.

After contemplating about it, Lania had settled upon a decision.

This night, she needed to get some _work_ done.

* * *

Nighttime had fallen for Rh-vola, and as usual activities had ceased for the village residents, with the exception of the recently implemented night-guards who were tasked to patrol the village from danger at night.

And, in addition, a certain young hunter who stayed for the purpose of uncovering a mystery.

Lania ventured to the western borders of the village, sneaking around behind the tents so as to not be noticed. She walked right up to being right near Jarlo’s hut, where she waited behind the tall bushes that led towards the eastern forests.

It was after a while when she noticed a figure walking in the darkness. She couldn’t quite make out the face hidden in the shadows, even with the moonlight being especially luminous that day. She decided to slowly approach the figure, carefully approaching him as to not surprise him.

She then lightly tapped the man’s shoulder, causing him to scream in shock.

“AAAHHHH!!!!”

The man nearly fell over, though Lania caught him in time.

“Ah! Calm down, Mister!”

“Ah…hooh….Miss Lania? Why…are you here?”

“Oh…actually…you are Mr. Urvi, correct?”

“Oh….how do you know?”

“Mr. Jarlo, told me. Your neighbor.”

“My neighbor….oh, that guy who lost his daughter. Right.”

“Mr. Jarlo said that he’d been kind of worried seeing you walk alone at night.”

Urvi looked at Lania with a befuddled expression. “Worried? Really?”

“Yes. Look, I’m not accusing you of anything, but with how the situation is…you walking around alone in the middle of the night is pretty suspicious.”

“Suspicious….is that so? I mean….”

“Hm?”

“The thing is….I myself am walking around to look for…something.” he explained, scratching at the back of his head.

Lania furrowed her brows in confusion. “Something?”

“Yes. I started noticing it about…two days ago. At the night after the doctor’s murder. It looked like a pair of glowing yellow eyes moving swiftly in the darkness. At first I was really frightened. And shocked too, I mean I’ve seen _nothing_ like that before in my seventy years of living in this village! But then I decided to go out and look for it myself.”

“Why didn’t you just report it to the guards?”

“Well, I had thought about it, but I don’t think anyone would believe me! I mean, _something_ with a pair of glowing yellow eyes?”

“But….but it would provide massive help! Maybe, maybe it is-“

“I know that! But quite frankly….I myself don’t know if I was only seeing things. And this night, I decided to investigate some more in order to confirm it myself. I mean, at least, if it _was_ actually just my imagination then-“

As Urvi was explaining, however, Lania suddenly noticed a figure sneaking up behind his back, raising what had seemed to be a metal spear at him.

“MR. URVI!” she shouted, lunging at Urvi. Urvi looked back and took a glimpse of his would-be attacker before he was tackled to the ground by Lania, narrowly missing the spear’s attack by a hair’s breadth.

“AAAAHH!!! What the hell?!” he yelled as he hit the ground.

“Huff, huff….Mr. Jarlo?!”

Lania looked up to see Jarlo, a manic expression on his face as he was still holding that spear up in the air.

“Miss Lania! Get out of the way. I will take care of this scum myself.”

“Huh?! H-hold on a minute! Why are you suddenly attacking Mr. Urvi out of nowhere?!”

“Hah…isn’t it already obvious?! I have seen him enough to know that he is the killer!”

Urvi widened his eyes in shock. “What in the name of Tarh’ala are you even talking about?! Me?! The killer?!”

“Don’t lie, you wretched scum! I have seen how you looked at me, how you looked when the murders happened! That knowing look on your face is unmistakable!”

“W-what?! Come on now! You need some actual proof before you start accusing me of something like _that_!”

“G-gentlemen! Mr. Jarlo, Mr. Urvi, you both need to calm down and-“

“How can I be calm, Miss Lania?! This monster has caused the death of two innocent people! One of them…one of them being my daughter!”

“I didn’t kill _anyone_!”

Soon, their argument became loud enough to the point of noticing the night-guards, causing them to approach the three.

“Now what is all the ruckus here?!”

“Mr. Jarlo has attempted to attack Mr. Urvi!” Lania said.

“That’s because Mr. Urvi is the killer we’ve been looking for! He is the one who has killed my daughter and the doctor!”

“What? What reasons do you even have to state such a thing?” asked one of the night-guards.

“Exactly! Where’s the proof?!”

“You truly are a damned scumbag…even after all that evidence, that time you just walked outside alon in the middle of the night for no reason…you think you can still fool anyone else?!”

“I walked outside to look for something!”

Jarlo blinked several times. “Something?”

“Yes! It was _something_ , a _creature_ or some sorts with two glowing yellow eyes!”

“Now you’re just lying,” Jarlo said, shaking his head.

“I swear I’m not lying! Why would I even make something like that up?!”

“Mr. Jarlo, please. I implore you to calm down, and listen to Mr. Urvi’s explanation-“

As Lania was trying to diffuse the situation however, Jarlo unexpectedly raised his spear to attack Urvi again, though this time he got restrained by the night-guards.

“GAH! Let go of me!” he yelled as he struggled.

“Sorry Sir, but we can’t let you hurt another innocent villager!”

“Hrgh, innocent?! I saw it! I saw that sinister grin he had!”

“Grin? What grin?!” asked Urvi.

“Mr. Jarlo, calm down. You’re probably just seeing things.”

“I...didn’t! I saw it! It’s the exact look I had seen prior!”

“Well, now this has just become really confusing, hasn’t it?” said one of the night-guards restraining Jarlo.

“He’s probably gone insane.” said another.

“We should just drag him to-“

However, all of their attention were suddenly drawn to a blood-curdling scream that ripped through the entire village.

“W-what was that?!” asked Lania. She followed the rest of the night-guards to the source of the scream, originating from the council hut.

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

When they arrived, they found the corpse of the Chief Elder Larkus, looking like he was impaled through his chest.

“FATHER!” Lania screamed. She immediately ran up to him, moving his body back and forth in some vain hope that he was still alive…but it was no use. Tears soon burst forth and she sobbed into her father’s chest. The night-guards ran up to Larkus’ body as well.

“Oh Tarh’ala….”

“No way….”

“This cannot be….we have to find whoever has killed the Chief Elder!”

One of the night-guards suddenly noticed some loud noise coming from the village.

“Hey uh, something is going on outside…”

As she heard that, Lania immediately stopped crying to go out of the hut, only to find the village in total chaos.

Villagers are all up and attacking each other, tearing down each other’s huts, even knocking down torches and causing some pretty big fire to consume the village as well.

“HEY! What is the meaning of this?!” the night-guards attempted to restrain the villagers, but were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of the feral villagers who attacked and killed everyone who stood in their path.

In the midst of the violence happening, Lania noticed a shadowy figure moving in the shadows. She couldn’t see clearly, but noticed what seemed to be a glint of a yellow light within the figure.

Without hesitation, she ran off after the figure, following it to the western borders of the village where the figure had seemingly disappeared into. She looked around and saw a small wooden cottage among the grasses leading to the western forests.

She walked to the cottage and pressed her ear to the walls to hear if there was anyone inside, but could hear nothing. She carefully opened the door to see that there was nothing inside. She entered the cottage, carefully looking around before she noticed a blood smear on the cottage floor, gulping as she did so.

She knelt down and touched the blood, noticing a strange yellow substance on her hand.

“Oh…it’s you.” said a voice behind her, startling Lania. She turned around and saw that it was Larta, carrying two deer in one hand while covered in blood.

“L-larta?!”

She saw Larta walking in and casually throwing the gutted deer on the floor.

“I never expected to see you here…guess you’ve already found out where I am, huh?”

“I haven’t seen you….I haven’t seen you for _two days_ and now you-“

“Ah, I’m sorry I haven’t told you about that. Then again, I’ve gotten pretty busy these days with all these hunts and all.”

Lania was breathing heavily as she glared at Larta with suspicion and confusion. “….what is the meaning of this, Larta?”

“Hm? What?”

“You….haven’t you known of what’s happening? The village is in total chaos and people are killing each other! And father, father….”

Lania struggled to hold back her tears. Larta looked upon her with shock and confusion.

“I….I’m sorry about that, Lania, I don’t-“ he said as he approached her, trying to give her a hug. Lania, however, pushed him away.

“DON’T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! All this murder happened and you always acted like you don’t know anything! You…you disappeared right after Yarnu’s body was discovered. And…and this night, father got killed himself….all of this has been happening since three days ago. Three days ago, after you went to hunt.”

Larta continued to look at her silently. Lania, as if realizing something, shakily raised her pointer finger at him.

“Something happened, didn’t it?! Something happened to you three days ago, and now, and now…..”

“Heheheheh….”

Lania stopped as she heard Larta’s low chuckle. The laugh eventually grew louder, evolving into a reverberated echo as it did so. Lania’s face grew twisted with shock and horror as Larta’s eyes glowed bright yellow, a wide grin revealing razor-sharp teeth.

“ **So you finally know**.” he growled. Lania instinctively reached out to her bow and shot an arrow at Larta, which he caught and effortlessly snapped in half. She took out her dagger and drove it through Larta’s chest, which he laughed off as he casually took the dagger out almost as if it had inflicted nothing, causing Lania’s eyes to widen in horror.

Before she could have time to react Larta grabbed her wrist and twisted it around, causing her to scream. Larta laughed maniacally as he threw her on the floor, her still writhing as she held her broken wrist in pain.

“What in the name Tarh’ala…tell me, _what_ the hell are you?! Why are you doing this?!”

Larta grinned, revealing more of those pointed teeth that slightly shined in the dark. “I am something that is far more than any of you feeble-minded pitiful souls can ever comprehend. I have lived in this universe for countless eons, going from one galaxy to the next and destroying many worlds as I please. I am **_Parallax_**. I _am_ **_fear_**.”

Lania continued staring in horror as she saw the creature before her, the one assuming Larta’s form walk up to her, yellow energy engulfing its body to change its clothes from what Larta usually wore to yellow-and-silver armor with a yellow cape.

‘Krrghh….you….mons- arkh!”

Lania choked out and coughed when Parallax stepped on her chest, coughing even more as it put more pressed its heel harder with a sadistic smile on its face.

“Well? None of your measly weapons work on me. Everyone else is simply having fun in your burning village. No one here is going to save you. You’re all _mine_.” the monster gloated, ending with that sickeningly-mocking laugh of its.

"You...bastard! What have...you done to...Larta?!"

"Oh, I simply met him by chance when I first got here. It was quite _convenient_ to immediately find a suitable host body at first try, so I lured him into a cave where I took him. It was quite _entertaining_ seeing him trying _so_ hard to escape. I think I might actually _like_ him."

Lania's eyes widened with anger. "I...I'll...kill you! AAARRGHHH!" she screamed in pain as Parallax used one of its insect-like stinger to impale through her palm.

“I have to say...I _do_ enjoy it here. I do enjoy seeing your tiny village turn on and destroy itself simply from me killing two people. The _fear_ of _something_ unknown that is simply waiting to come for their lives. Isn’t it all so tragic, lovely Lania? You’ve sworn to protect your village from all threats that may come, and yet here you are struggling under my own heel. Oh, but that’s not even what you even actually want to do, is it?”

Lania looked up at Parallax with shock.

“What….do you mean?”

“You keep on telling yourself and everyone else that you have accepted your responsibility as the Chief Elder’s daughter to dedicate yourself for this village. But…you _hate_ being the Chief Elder’s daughter, don’t you?”

Lania glared at Parallax as she attempted to lift herself up, but ultimately got forced to the ground again.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know it’s true. You know you never signed up for this, the responsibility of being the village’s protector. You could have turned away from those duties and simply live your life as the village princess, but you didn’t because you felt _guilty_ about it. Or rather….you were _afraid_ you would lose all those affection thrown at you for pretty much all of your life.”

“Kh…how did ….that’s not…”

“You grew up lonely. Losing your mother from an accident when you were five, and growing distant from your father, you had no one to talk to about your problems. No one to turn to for comfort….until you found Larta. He was your escape. The only times when you could let your so-called ‘honorable’ façade off. But, ah, that’s all you two ever were, right? Or did it ever venture further than that?”

Parallax stomped on Lania’s chest before it bent down, putting its face close to her that she could feel his breath.

“Let me tell you a little secret. This Larta boy…he loved you quite a lot, didn’t he? So much that he was willing to endure all the time you’ve vented all your frustrations to him and never expecting anything back. Do you know that? Or did he never tell you?”

Parallax pulled away from Lania’s face with a mocking chuckle as he watched her shocked face.

“And now…I wonder what his reaction would be seeing me doing this to the girl he loved, without being able to do anything about it? Should I just make him at least being able to see what I’m about to do to you? Maybe I will. It’ll make everything so much fun.”

In a flash Parallax practically lunged at Lania to pin her down. It revealed its claws and tearing into her clothes.

“Gah! What are you doing?! Stop! ST-“ Lania screamed over and over. She thrashed about and attempted to get Parallax off of, only to have it practically _press_ into her arm and nearly breaking her bones. With wide eyes she looked up at horrified at Parallax, squirming at the monster horrifyingly long tongue.

“Trust me, I would _love_ to join the fun everyone’s having outside, but….I'll take my sweet time with you.”

* * *

On the outside the chaos was still ongoing inside Rh-vola. The numerous night-guards and hunters who were attempting to diffuse the situation were completely overwhelmed and in some cases, actually participated in the mindless, blind violence as the others as well. One of the night-guards were restraining some villagers when they noticed an ear-splitting scream coming from the western forests.

“What is that?!” said one of the guards.

“Someone else probably got killed.” replied another as he narrowly evaded a villager’s sword.

“Well, then we have to help them!”

“But we still have these people to control! If we don’t-“

“Fine, I’ll go by myself!”

“Wait! I’ll go with you!” another night-guard followed.

And so the two guards ventured to the western forests and to the cottage where they had heard the sound coming from. One of them proceeded to kick down the door.

“Now what is going on- what?!”

The two were left frozen at the sight of Parallax kneeling on the floor, eating Lania’s entrails. The monster turned to the two night-guards, and let out a chilling grin as it stepped up to the guards and ripped their heads off.

Parallax walked to the village, effortlessly ripping through the numerous night-guards and civilians who attempted to stop it, bloody chunks of flesh forming a trail behind it. At the same time, Jarlo was still caught in a fierce riot with the other villagers as he noticed the loud screaming sounds behind him, turning around to see Parallax.

“W-who the hell are you?!” he asked, pointing his spear at Parallax. The yellow-eyed monster only replied with that trademark sharp smirk of its.

“Hello, old man. You liked the gift I gave you?”

Jarlo’s eyes widened in realization of what Parallax said. “You….you monster! You were the one who killed my daughter! I- orkh!”

He didn’t have the time to finish the sentence before Parallax’s claws found their way to his stomach.

“Yes, I am. And now, I’m pretty sure little Marvia will be happy to see her daddy again.” it said with a laugh before it threw Jarlo’s body to the side, ripping his body in half.

With everyone else near it dead, Parallax floated above the village to observe the remaining Krivanians take each other out. It laughed as it did so, laughing as the dancing flames swallow the village and deliver its ashes to the night sky. Drinking in their _fear_.

Fear of something that had managed to shake their peaceful life in their tiny village through one seemingly insignificant murder. Fear of them or someone else being the next. Fear of them being hopeless against it. The fear that had ultimately torn the once ‘family-like’ village apart, consuming them in the sea of death and violence. For fear begets violence, and violence begets fear, so does the cycle continue to feed Parallax.

And for this night, fear had once again won. It had won just like it had had many other times before within the worlds now mere unspoken memories, cautionary tales for generation to come, and it won’t be the last.

For as long as life exists, as long as the _will_ to live exists, so does _fear_. And so for as long as fear exists, _Parallax_ will never stop, _shall never be stopped_ until it makes every living being in every nook and cranny of the infinite universe know by their hearts the _name_ of fear.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always been interested in the kind of shit Parallax is said to have wreaked billions of years ago, spreading terror across and destroying worlds before the Guardians of Oa got a hold of it. If I ever got to write at DC (which will obviously never happen) this is the story I would write, a tale about Parallax sneaking into a world to possess some poor schmuck and then from it, start spreading panic and terror among the natives before they start destroying themselves. I've always been interested in Parallax as a character because well, aside from being a fun sadistic shitheel it's always interesting to think about the way it utilizes and instills fear in others, which I've explored in this story to an extent.
> 
> Anyways this doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing gay shit, I've already had like 3 unfinished smutty WIPs so I'll probably at least get one of them coming out this week if I'm motivated enough lol


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